If You're In, I'm In

We didn't talk for four days. He avoided me at all costs and I avoided him. I avoided everyone though. It was easy to do since I was spending most of my time at school doing tech week for the play. Friday however everything changed. It was movie night which was mandatory unless you were on a mission.

“Whose night is it to choose?”. Sam asked.

“Mine”. Bucky said.

“Ugh, what culturally significant movie will we be watching tonight”. Sam groaned.

Steve and Bucky always used their movie night to catch up on the things they missed out on. It almost always was a movie we had seen a million times already.

“Actually I picked one with that actor from Jumanji cause I really liked him and I picked not a popular one since I know you guys get annoyed when I pick the most popular ones”.

“Are you talking about Robin Williams cause all of his movies are popular”. I said.

“I agree with the hermit. I would be surprised if you picked one the majority of us hadn't seen”. Tony interjected.

“I'm not a hermit”

“The last few days would debunk that statement”.

“Anyway, it's called, The Birdcage”. Bucky finally got to say.

It seemed like nobody had seen it. I personally had. It's actually one of my favorite movies.

“Nice work Buck”. Steve patted him on the back.

We sprawled out on the couches and all over the floor. There was popcorn, candy, and pizza covering the coffee table.

At some point, I zoned out from the movie and looked over at Peter who still seemed upset. He was very lazily focusing on the movie but both of our attentions snapped when Robin Williams' character, Armand, went to see his son's birth mom Katie.

Katie and Armand had had one fun night and Katie ended up pregnant. Armand took the baby and raised him. Katie still got to live her life and wasn't shamed for giving up her kid because the father wanted to raise the baby. She didn't want a baby and that was ok.

I looked over at Peter and he was looking over at me and I mouthed “If you're in I'm in”. He smiled and I saw small tears form in his eyes. I won't lie when I also had tears in my eyes when I saw his.

I felt a little stupid, to be honest. I don't know why I didn't think about just giving the baby to Peter. He would be an amazing dad. After the movie was over he came over and gave me a hug.

“Thank you, Iris”. He whispered in my ear.

“You owe me big time”. I whispered back.

“Are you two over whatever bullshit you were yelling about a few days ago?”. Tony asked.

“Yeah, we are”.

“I didn't know my choice in a movie that involved drag queens would do the trick”. Bucky looked proud.

“Well, Buck “We are family ``''. I sang, referencing the end of the movie.
This turned into a dance party ending the night a lot better than it had started.

The next week was my play. I was playing Shelby in Steel Magnolias which now is hysterical honestly since her whole demise is centered around the fact her kidneys fail after she has her baby. It felt weird playing a character who is pregnant for a portion of it while being pregnant and having complete opposite feelings from the character.

Shelby is willing to risk it all to have a baby while I'm still a little wary of Peter and Is deal. We decided that I would sign over my parental rights shortly after the baby was born and that would be that. I was basically a surrogate. The part we hadn't gotten past was telling the team. I was very against it. The team loved Peter and I was worried that they would see me as this troublemaker who has come in and is ruining Peter's life. Not that I didn't feel a part of the team but it's different for sure.

I was added to the team by Nick Fury himself around the same time as Peter. I wasn't a handpicked prodigy and future successor of Tony Stark, I was a shape-shifting lab experiment that was forced into Avengers tower one day and they had to deal with it. No one was sure of me besides Nat, Wanda, and Peter. They trusted me right off the bat. Tony believed I was there to spy on all of them and his ideology spread to the rest of the team quickly just in different forms. Steve even went so far as to interrogate me about my involvement with HYDRA which was nothing. I had felt like an outsider for a very long time and I think this will just add to that. Even though I was an outsider they were still my family and I would do anything for them.

Peter believed that if we just told them and were honest I would receive none of the repercussions. He knew that what we were doing was risky. He knew that no one would understand that just days before he turned 18 he was excited about becoming a father. He knew that this would be a difficult thing to explain. He knew that this meant going straight to MIT was out of the question now. He knew that this may ruin his relationship with MJ. And he especially knew that this would completely alter his relationship with Tony.

But he didn't care. All he cared about was being the best parent he could be. He cared about building this family after all he had lost. He was Shelby in a sense. The chance well outweighed the risk for him. At first, I didn't understand Shelby at all but listening to Peter talk about how excited he was made me understand her more than anything else in the world.

I could see my family sitting in the best seats in the house. Made possible by Tony Stark himself. They seemed to be enjoying the show. I had had my seizure and drank the juice and had gotten married and now was time for the scene I had been dreading the whole night.

“...I am going to be very very careful, nobody is going to be hurt, or disappointed, or even inconvenienced”. I felt like I was talking to them even though they didn't know it.

“I'm going to have a baby and I wished you'd be happy too”. My voice broke slightly at the end. My friend Ally, playing my mom, gave me a quick “are you ok look” before I continued.

“ I look at having this baby as the opportunity of a lifetime. Sure, there may be some risk involved. That‟s true for anybody. But you get through it and life goes on. And when it‟s all said and done there‟ll be a piece of immortality with Jackson‟s looks and my sense of style…I hope. Mama, please. I need your support. I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special”. I took everything I had to stay grounded.

As I said before, I was nowhere near feeling the same as Shelby at this moment but I did feel her hope of not being rejected by the most important person in her life. Before I knew it the show was over and I went out to meet everybody out in the lobby.

“There she is! Great job kid”. Tony said, giving me an encouraging smile.

Various notions of congratulations echoed from the group. Wanda gave me a hug and whispered in my ear,
“You made everyone cry”. I gave her a wide-eyed smile as we pulled away.

“Ok we are going to head to the car and then we are having a party to celebrate a wonderful performance”. Tony ushered everyone out to the cars. Peter and MJ, who I didn't know were coming, stayed behind.

“Iris that was really good”. Peter said.

“Thanks. I was slightly inspired by you”.

“Really?”.

“Yeah”.

“Well I wanted to tell you while no one was here. I told MJ about ya know”.

I looked up to MJ and she was giving me a half smile.
“While I don't completely understand Peter's reasoning for wanting the baby, I'm still going to support him because I really like him and we can make it work. And I know that this happened before we officially started dating so I'm not mad or anything”.

“Thanks, MJ. I don't totally get it either but after I thought it over and after a very inspiring movie night I thought that I can do this for him”.

She smiled and she and Peter said congrats one more time before heading back to the car. Leaving me to get back in my street clothes and make it out there. The party was fun. I of course couldn't get into any trouble since I had a responsibility now. Wanda accused everybody of crying which was unanimously denied but then Vision set the record straight saying he saw the majority going for tissues or wiping tears on their sleeves. And Vision never lies.